I wish I knew then...
 

what I know now about digiscrapping.

What would you say? What do you wish you knew way back when you started DSing? Is there a trick to your program you wish you'd known? Or maybe an organization tip? (The organizing thread got me thinking about this, actually.)

First - what a great Passport Journaling Challenge idea "I wish I knew then..."
What a big life question.

As for scrapping, I guess my biggest one would be
Learn & Master Shadows.
That is probably the biggest thing for me in each style of scrapping and stage of art to make it seem most real.

Don't download every single freebie in the universe!

LOL! yes!! that too! :D

and that brushes and stuff are SOOOO fun to work with. :)

Double Dittos on that one....because cleaning them out is a bear!!! I guess it did help me develop my style a bit though. :blink:

Control-G in photoshop elements. I spent years selecting paper layers in templates, inverting the selection and then selecting my paper layer & deleting for EVERY PAPER (and sometimes redoing when I didn't like where the selection hit on the paper). It took so much time. Learning about the clipping command was a game changer LOL

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." More specifically, just because your program or a photography resource site has a zillion photo effects that look good on the example photos doesn't mean you should use them on your photos. Way too many of my early pages feature filters and photo effects. Nothing too crazy, but when I look back through those pages I wish I'd stuck with only the basics (editing for brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc).

I am loving these responses! And I'm glad I'm not the only person who regrets going a little cuckoo with downloading random freebies lol.

Well, if it wasn't for the freebies, I wouldn't be digi scrapping! Couldn't afford to buy many kits so had to use freebies while I built up my stash.

I am actually thankful for one of the scrapping stores that actually had tutorials available for PSP back in those days. Even though I knew the program, those tutorials helped me translate what I knew to digi-scrapping.

And, another digi store had organizational info that helped me from the start.

So as to what I wish I would have known then that I know now... can't think of anything because I was able to find that stuff within months of starting! I've just refined things over the years to make the process flow better.

This is less about the actual scrapping, but I wish I would have invested in a better camera earlier and taken more pictures when my oldest boys were itty bitty!

I agree with the freebies one! But it was all I could afford at the time until I started joining some CT's and sites. Which leads me to my next one, just because someone asks you to be on their CT or is having a call...doesn't mean you should join each of them. I was on some interesting teams starting out, and they weren't quite my style, but I was learning and scrapping and growing my stash. Which goes to the next one, if a CT doesn't fit you, it's ok to step down. And to the last one, that Designers look for different things in the CT members they bring on. I was on a very artsy designer's team. I loved the artsy look of the other members pages, but struggled to fit that image with my pages. When I talked to the designer, she told me she didn't bring me on to fit their style, but because my style was different from theres and could attract different scrappers! Here I had been trying to fit in, when she wanted me to be different! :)

Take all the pictures. Write down all the words. You can't get the moments back, and the memories will fade.

I wish I would have been more selective with freebies. I wish I would have started backing up to the cloud sooner (I have an old EHD with lots of my early digital pics that fell on the floor many years ago).
I wish I would have stayed more on top of my scrapping and took notes for things I didn't scrap right away. I wish I would have made more of an effort to try to learn Photoshop years ago. I'm overall pretty happy with my program (Forever) but I'm try to learn Affinity Photo to be able to do more things and the learning curve is high.

This is me too :)

and maybe a bit more selective with the freebies :D

More journaling early on, even though I think I’m terrible at it, so pages I’m can’t remember exactly what’s going on.

And shadows! Lol!

how to store Digi photos. I had my now grown children photos on an EHD and did not backup any other way. Sorry to say that I lost over 5 years worth when the EHD broke.

Also, the freebie thing.

1. Don't ever compare yourself to another scrapper or their layout. Be confident in your work and at the end of the day as long as you love the layout, that's all that matters!

2. Join and be active at SSD a whole lot earlier :D

3. Start off using Photoshop instead of playing around with other programs. Learn how to shadow and the importance of shadowing.

Definitely don't compare yourself to others, but if you like someone's style, use it as an example to learn.

DONE is better than perfect! DON'T OVERTHINK!!! I've been scrapping (including paper) for many, many years, but don't have a lot done to show for it because I want everything to be "perfect". There is no "perfect"!

Keep notes! I'm going back to photos that are 20 years old, and photos that I took of seemed really important at the time, and I figured I would never forget the story, have been lost. :crying:

These are great tips for me a 1year in newbie.
I am still in the freebie honeymoon phase I think! What freebies should I avoid?
I wish I had understood shadows from day one! I might even go back and add some shadows to my original layouts, they are so flat!

As far as freebies, I do my best to download only what I think I will actually use and not just download it because it's free. 10+ years ago, everyone and their uncle were giving away free things daily as they learned design or learned how to digital scrapbook and so much of it is out of style now. I question whether some of what I had downloaded was ever actually in style. hahaha

Freebie tip
 

Thank you! This is a great tip and actually I think I am already following this rule now. I think in my first 3 months of scrapping I just didn't know what I needed, but then I got smarter LOL

You definitely do want the freebies here at SSD!
https://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/s...me.php?cat=796

Those are a must. I’ve used 90% of them already. :wub:

I wish I had a better system in place for catagorizing and labeling photos and kits. Now I feel like it is too late after all this time and I try to go by memory, but that doesn't work.

Oh man, where to start....ok...my words of wisdom are...

• Stay true to yourself, whether it's as a pocket scrapper, minimalist, artsy, traditional...whatever...its all good.
• Staying true to yourself and your style doesn't mean that you should never go outside your comfort zone but only if and when you feel the urge. For years I was a minimalist scrapper and that was ok but then when I started filling up the page more and clustering a whole heck of a lot more...that was ok too.
• If scrapping isn't fun, you need to figure out what you need to change b/c it should never feel like a chore, make you feel overwhelmed or not talented enough, it should feed your soul, your own personal creativity, whatever that may be.

As far as tips go...

• Learn keyboard shortcuts. In PS, I use Control + G a lot to group layers together, Control Z to undo the last command, V to select the move tool and control plus - or + signs to decrease and increase the brush size. Open up brush selection by right click on mouse.
• When you find tutorials, save them to a pinterest board so they will be available to easily refer back to.
• Watch youtube videos to learn a new technique.

My biggest regret is that I didn't start applying for an SSD CT spot here much earlier, feeling too chicken to apply and by the time I did apply, too many years had gone by (I think I applied 3 times) so now feel that it has passed me by. Don't be afraid to "put yourself out there" and try for what you want.

What I wish I knew....

How to use a template.... my first attempts because I had no idea how to clip my papers n photos to the shapes, are lets just say, rather interesting....

How to shadow....

How to cluster....

And did I really NEED every single FREEBIE???????? HAHAHA Nope.

It's okay not to have any set "style" and to switch it up sometimes.